The Gambia orders BBC journalist to leave country

Gambian
authorities detained Thomas Fessy, the West Africa correspondent of BBC World News, for several hours at the capital's
international airport on September 5, 2012, and ordered him to leave the country within
48 hours, the BBC reported.
Fessy returned to Senegal on September 7, 2012.

Fessy had obtained a single-entry one-month visa from the Gambian High Commission in Senegal, he told CPJ. He had flown to Gambia
from Senegal to report on President Yahya Jammeh's decision to execute nine death
row inmates and interview Gambian citizens about the death penalty, according
to news reports. Local and international human rights groups have criticized
Jammeh over the executions, according to the same sources.

In a
statement sent to CPJ, Jon Williams, BBC's World News Editor, confirmed that Fessy
had "applied for and was given a visa to report from Gambia, but on arrival was
denied the required accreditation to report inside the country."